Dr Reddy and his group have shown that ERG and Fli-1 proteins involved in several cancers are responsible for making cancer cells resistant to chemo-therapeutic agents. They are targeting these onco-proteins or their functions to develop novel targeted therapeutic agents. Using this strategy, they have developed several novel drugs (patent being submitted) that target Prostate cancer, Ewing Sarcoma, Breast cancer (triple negative breast cancer), Pancreatic cancer, Ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, etc. These drugs appear to be targeted therapeutic agents with no or little effect on normal cells.Two drugs are being tested against Pancreatic cancer in collaboration with UAB scientists.

Dr Reddy received a grant from DOD to do research on two drugs against prostate cancer. We are grateful to DOD organization for standing up to our cancer research. Dr Reddy reported novel targeted therapeutic agents against ERG-Positive Prostate Cancers at DOD conference IMPACT 2011 (March 2011). Please see the link below for details on the novel targeted therapeutic agents against ERG-Positive Prostate Cancers.

Dr Reddy and his colleagues (Fortson etal., International Journal of Oncology, In press, 2011) have tested the effect of the anti-epilepsy drug Valproic acid (VPA) and Trichostatin-A (TSA) on ERG- positive prostate cancer cells.They found that VPA and TSA induce apoptosis (programmed cell death), upregulate p21/Waf1/CIP1, repress TMPRSS2-ERG expression, and affect acetylation status of p53 in ERG-positive prostate cancer cells. These results suggest that VPA (well tolerated, established drug for epilepsy and bipolar disorder) might restore HAT activity through two different ways: by inhibiting HDACs activity and by repressing HAT targeting oncoprotein, such as ERG. These results may provide new clues to molecular mechanism of action of VPA in ERG-positive prostate cancers (which represent 50-80% of all prostate cancers). Please see the link below for details.

Facts about prostate cancer*:

• Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States.

• One in six men in the U.S. will receive the diagnosis in his lifetime.

• The median age of death from prostate cancer from 2000 through 2004 was 80 years, and 71 percent of deaths occurred in men older than 75 years.

• Prostate cancer is a clinically heterogeneous disease. A substantial proportion of prostate cancer cases detected with current screening methods will never cause symptoms during the patients’ lifetime.

• For the first time, cancer rates and cancer deaths both dropped in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society’s 2008 Annual Report. Declines in the three most common cancers in men: lung cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer.

• Although age is a risk factor for prostate cancer, the disease is more dangerous in men in their 50s and early 60s than in older men. Th is is why it is so important for men to begin screening before the age of 60. Prostate cancer in older men is often a slower growing and less dangerous variety.

• A family history of prostate cancer on either the father’s or mother’s side increases the risk of developing the disease.

• African-American men have twice the risk of developing prostate cancer as Caucasian men. The disease is most common in North America and northern Europe.

• Prostate cancer is more common in regions with lower exposure to sunlight, such as Michigan, and in regions where diets are high in fat.